The so-called wagner private military company (PMC), founded and led by vladimir putin's "chef," yevgeny prigozhin, was one of the kremlin's key instruments of influence in Africa. Following the failed mutiny in russia in 2023, the remnants of prigozhin's forces were reorganized into the so-called Africa Corps, now controlled by the ministry of defense of the russian federation.

Meanwhile, russia's foreign intelligence Service (svr) assumed operational and financial control over another of prigozhin's structures — an organization known as Africa Politology, also referred to as The Company.

Africa Politology is a covert russian network for political influence, propaganda, lobbying, and espionage. The organization develops strategies to displace the influence of Western countries and the United Nations across Africa by conducting disinformation campaigns, manipulating public opinion, bribing local journalists and bloggers, and creating and coordinating pro-russian media outlets and Telegram channels.

The svr-controlled organization is also responsible for supporting pro-russian politicians, organizing protests, conducting espionage, and discrediting democratic governments and opposition parties in the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Mali, Angola, Madagascar, Namibia, South Africa, and several other African countries.

In 2024, acting on behalf of russia's foreign intelligence service, Africa Politology carried out a number of information operations, including:

• • IO-1: "Discrediting the presence of the humanitarian organization FHI 360 in the Central African Republic."
• • IO-2: "Undermining the extension of the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA's mandate in the Central African Republic."
• • IO-3: "Spreading rumors that CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra was poisoned while in France."
• • IO-4: "Discrediting Ukraine across the African continent."
• • IO-5: "Inciting anti-French sentiment in the Central African Republic."

The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine is publishing the personal details of the key individuals who manage Africa Politology and implement the russian aggressor state's subversive policy in Africa:

• • dmitry fadeyev — Former svr officer and former First Deputy Director of the svr. Coordinated the organization's transition under Kremlin control.
• • ilya savelyev — Believed to be a career svr officer. Executive Director of the so-called Center for the Study of Africa's Socio-Political Problems. Maintains operational coordination between the svr and Africa Politology.
• • sergey klyushkin — Head of the Analytical Department. Oversees opinion polling and political analysis in target countries.
• • sergey mashkevich — Responsible for expanding Africa Politology's influence across Africa and serves as the organization's chief negotiator with the svr on funding. Previously supervised prigozhin's projects in Sudan.
• • dmitry volkov — since July 2024, has been responsible for operations in Bolivia.
• • alexey shilov — specializes in political influence operations and election campaigns.
• • taras pribashin — participated in operations in Syria, the United States, Europe, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and the Central African Republic. He is under U.S. sanctions.
• • nikolay radkovsky — Head of information operations. Responsible for influencing campaigns on social media.
• • yulia afanasyeva-bereg – Coordinator of African projects. She is under U.S. sanctions for election interference.
• • kseniya soboleva – Head of the media division. Coordinated the creation of fake Facebook accounts and organized funding for pro-russian Telegram channels.

russia's foreign intelligence service finances Africa Politology through a network of front companies. Among those involved in the shadow financing schemes for russia's overseas hybrid operations are Inter JSC and Intertekhtrade LLC. Transactions between these companies were designed to conceal the origin of funds, hide the svr's role, evade tax oversight, and reduce the risk of payment blocking.

A significant portion of Africa Politology's funding is distributed in cash. This also enables those carrying out the svr's African operations to enrich themselves by inflating project budgets, as cash expenditures are subject to minimal oversight.

Previously, DIU representative Andriy Chernyak, in an interview with Kyiv Post, outlined the key features of the cognitive warfare that the russian aggressor state is waging across Africa.